Elections Still Scheduled for 2014?

A new resolution passed September 4th will attempt to proceed with elections in 2014, according to the El Rancho Accord. As it stands, elections have been delayed more than two years. While it is crucial that elections be held promptly, it is also imperative that they be fair and democratic.

Haiti – Elections : The Lower House passed a resolution in favor of Article 12 of El Rancho

HaitiLibreSeptember 6, 2014

Thursday at 5 days of the closing of the last year of the 49th Legislature, the deputies met in plenary session, have adopted a resolution (45 in favor, 7 against and 0 abstentions) in favor of the application of Article 12 of the Agreement El Rancho allowing to bypass the blockage of Senators and promote the holding of elections this year.

Article 12 of the Agreement El Rancho, signed by the Executive, Parliament and political parties, states “In cases where amendments to the electoral law planned and proposed in the framework of the dialogue are not passed by the two branches of Parliament within the period prescribed in section eight (8) of this Agreement, Parties note with the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) the physical impossibility of applying Articles referred. Consequently, the Parties agree that the said articles automatically enter into hold and the electoral body is allowed to override. Consequently, the Parties agree that the said articles are automatically in hold and the electoral body is allowed to override.”

In its Article 1, the resolution states that “The Provisional Electoral Council, pursuant to the Constitution and the electoral law, especially Article 19-1, supplemented by the Agreement of El Rancho, adopt the provisions necessary to organize the elections for two-thirds of the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies and local authorities at the end of the year 2014,” recalled that Article 19.1 of the Electoral Act 2013 states “The Permanent Electoral Council determines the positions for election and adopt the dates for opening and closing of the electoral campaign.”

Stevenson Jacques Thimoléon, is aware that this resolution has no binding effect but demonstrates that the House of Representatives is not a blocking element “Before you go on vacation [Monday, September 8, 2014] the deputies have seen fit to take this position in order to inform the national and international opinion, that they are for the organization of elections at the end of this year.”

For the deputy Sadrac Dieudonné, President of bloc minority of the opposition “Parliamentarians for Institutional Strengthening” (PRI), the resolution is a “masquerade” that will change nothing to the current electoral crisis nor blocking by the G6 in the Senate for ratification of the amendments to the electoral law.